What to Expect on Your First Day

Tomorrow is the first day with a new organisation, and I carry a lot of dreams with me. The dreams to flourish with prosperity & growth.

But still there are a lot of questions unanswered : How is the culture of the company, what are the people like, who will be my boss & how is he as a person, what will be my roles & responsibilities? Is there a friendly environment, do people respect each other’s thought process & welcome the differences? We are sure that all of us have been through such anxieties on our first day with any organisation.

Then, why not design an orientation program that is welcoming, that reinforces a newcomer’s belief that she/he has taken a correct career decision of choosing the organisation?

We a Vedantu believe the orientation process should be designed to cater one simple need for the employees– “I want to belong to.”  

For us, the orientation process starts way before the employee joins in. we feel, that it’s essential to share a regular update regarding the business via emails, company newsletters, etc. Also, once the offer letter is accepted, within the first 24 hours, the new employee’s manager should call, congratulate & welcome the new team member and send some sort of personalised goodies, which the manager should have enquired during the interview. (For ex.: Kindle for those who are fond of reading). This will not only surprise the newcomer but will also show a lot of personalised attention. Also, the appointment letter & the other written formalities should be sent via email, to not only save the time post joining, but also the boredom attached to it.

Be ready to make the first day as the most seamless and most memorable day for a newcomer: (the first & the last day of any employee creates the brand of any organisation)

To create a collaborative, fast-paced, innovative & fun culture – educate the newcomer with the vision & history of the company. Develop short stories about the core values of the company and help the newcomer to participate through some interesting games & quizzes about the cultural pillars of the company.

Run him/her through the various departments & the organisational hierarchical chart. Make him/her understand the cutting-edge technologies (in the case of a tech company) that are essentially being used in the organisation.

Each new member’s immediate team lead should be his/her mentor for the coming week. The lead should take complete responsibility to mentor him/her to achieve great clarity and results. The HR should present him/her a welcome kit, comprising of customised company products like a diary, bag, pen, t-shirt, etc. Assist him/her in adjusting & resolve any questions or concerns in an informal environment. Also, help him/her define the goals & development plans. The HR should take a regular feedback from the newcomer.

Capture the voice of the new joinee & analyse it at regular intervals to initiate process improvements.

• Day 1: Take a feedback to understand the onboarding experience of the employee ( about his comfort level)
• Day 7 : take a feedback with the aim to understand how well has the employee settled in the organization.
• Day 15 : This feedback would allow you to understand – how well the employee understands the overall functioning of the organization and how will he/she like to execute his/her KRAs
• Day 30 : The employee completely settles in the organization. A feedback at this point takes input on work environment, supervisor, communication & work culture.

At Vedantu we think, if we can act robust and pro-active, we can gauge a lot of openness, alignment & innovation in organizational culture. We constantly strive to achieve healthy work-life balance for all Vedans and are very sure your comments would help us do something even better. Do comment your suggestions.

This post is contributed by Garima Bhandari

Garima Bhandari  is working as Manager – HR & People Strategy at Vedantu and strongly believes in nurturing leaders to create a strong organizational culture. During her free time, she likes to read and hone her blogging skills.